St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-04
Stories Of Minnie Skully and
the Woman Who Sent
Her to Hinckley.
Her Mother Says Mary Was
Lured to a House Of
Ill-Fame.
Was There a General System
OF Sending Young Girls
From Home?
Many Matters Of Interest
Gathered From the
Local Field.

The episode of the fifteen-year-oId
girl named Mamie Skully, who ran
away from home to a place of alleged
bad repute at Hinckley, last Tuesday
morning, has a very spicy character,
ana duplicates man and woman on
the charge of procuring girls and entic-
ing them away from the city to country
dens of bad name.
The home of the girls mother, Mrs.
Anna Wood, who says her husband has
deserted her, was visited yesterday by a
GLOBE reporter. 1t is neat, one-stOry
frame dwelling at $50 Commercial ave-
nue..
Two sisters, one older and one
younger, were found with Minnie
Skully and her mother in the summer
Kitchen. Mrs. Wood is a stout. gritty
looking brunette. Minnie is not very
comely, but has two pretty black eyes
over saucy pug nose. There was also
a girl, a buxom blonde. named Maud
Parker, who had good deal to say
about Mrs. Burns. Maud Parker. who
is about sixteen, said:
used to drop in to see Mrs. Burnsnow and
then. Once she proposed that we stav at her
Ime gun boat on the river at the stock wards.
Inc gun boat is where they have lot of bad
women and keep liquor. Well. what Mrs.
i Burns asked me to do gave her dead away.
she tried to coax me to run AWAY hut Won
bet she couldn't get me to 60 made mn NV
mind wouldn't have any more to do with
her.. Yes, I'm willing to go into court and
say just what say to you.
MINNIE'S STORY.
Minnie tells another story. She said:
rrNfo I'll. IL
another girl. Kitty Foley. We went to her
place when she was sick last spring. She
tried to get Kitty Foley to run away. Well, I
went to her place last Tuesday morning.
Ihere' man stopping there by the name of
John Bailey: Mrs. Burns says he is her
cousin, but she told Kit and me once that it
wouldn't do to have a married man
around the place and not say he was
some relative OF hers. This man told me
very nice story. He said he had place to
do kltchenwork for both Ellen Foster and
me, up at Hinckley. didn't want to go. but
he told me he was going to get $50 for every
girl ne sent there, and if didn't like the
place I could come back home and he would
give me half of the $50. Well, thought it
was chance to make money, so l agreed to
go If Nell would Ellen Foster is about
eighteen or nineteen years old: Mrs. Burns
right name is Nellie o. Brien. Well, we went
to the depot. Bailey had our tickets but he
didn't give them to us until the train was
about to go. We didn't know where Hinck-
ley was, but when we got to one station the
dinner We didn't know it was Hinckley,
so we sat IN the car for about ten minutes. |
saw man out on the platform. walking up
and down with a bull dog. l said to Nell,
There goes one dog after another" never
thought that was the man we were going to
work for After while he came into the car,
and asked us if we were the girls
from st. Paul who were coming to
Hinckley to work for him. We asked him if
he was Mr.. Williams. He said yes, he was.
Then we got out and went up to his place
with him. passek off under the name of
Nellie Fisher, and Ellen Foster went under
the name of Lou Smith. Mrs. Williams gave
us separate rooms. She had nice furniture
The bedrooms were very slick.
Yes; they sen beer there. Mrs:
Williams said that the price of
parlor was so cents, but when it was brought
up to our rooms it was 81. oh, yes we had
lots of company. The men would look at US
pretty straight, and they were very familiar.
Ellen Foster is there yet.
WHAT MRS. BURNS SAYS.
The home of Mrs. Burns was visited
next. 1t is a dirty-looking, one-story
howell. fronting close to the sidewalk.
and between two saloons, on ROSabel
street, between Fourth aid Fifth. Mrs.
Burns says her maiden name was Nellie
O'Brien, and that she washes for liv-
ing. She is an intelligent blonde of
about thirty years of age, and blushed
all over as she told her story. Bailey
was with her. He is short, thick-Set
man, with black hair and mustache,
and blue eyes. Mrs. Burns said she
lived at Eighth avenue and Third street,
Minneapolis, until three years ago, Sept.
1. This is her story:
Why, that little girl, Minnie Skully, is
known all over Seventh street as a bad girl.
She has led lots of other little girls. estray. I
never enticed her away, and l tried TO keep
Ellen Foster from going. l didn't care so
much about Minnie, because 1 didn't think it
would make much difference. as she had
gone too far already. Minnie came here and
said that she had contracted disease, and
wanted to get away from home to get cured.
She keeps company with a married man by
the name of Harry Cant, whose wife left him.
Why, her mother came here on Monday and
made a proposition to me that keep Minnie
here with me, as she would go out and bring
in q lot of men and make money for me-
Here is a letter which the girls sent to me
from Hinekley. 1t doesn't look as if they
were such nice innocent little girls.
The letter was handed to the reporter.
Mrs. Burns said she thought Ellen Fos-
ter wrote at Minnie's uictation, because
''Nellie was a nice girl" Its language
was beaStly, and the reference to the
place of Mr.. Williams
WAS MOST VULGAR.
The girls wrote that they were both
dressed in ''blue satin father hubbards,"
with nice stockings. Mr.. Bailey also
produced letter from j. G.. Williams,
in which Williams directed where he
had sent the tickets. Bailey said that
he went up to Hurley and stayed there
till the place went down. He tells this
tale:
I used to know Williams as saloonkeeper
at Hinckley. The first time met him was
last March, A little while ago he ana his
wife were in the city. He asked me if
knew where he could get girl told him
knew OF Swede girl who was out of Job,
and would ask herif she would like to go
up and go to work. Well, didn't think any
more about it until these girls said they
wanted to get job. Williams did not send
me the tickets; he sent them to saloon
keeper on Seventh street.
Both Mrs. Burns and Bailey said that
sMrs. Skully'' had a bad character.
They said that her daughter Minnie,
and the married man, Harry Grant, all
went home together last Monday night.
While they were talking cOlored man
came to the door and said he was after
a package for "a lady from Hinckley."
The officer on the beat gave Mrs. Burns
a questionable reputation. She says
she has never done anything out of the
way. Mrs. Burns said when Mrs.
Skully came to her place Monday she
said she was going up to Nellie TySon's
to see II Minnie was there, and there's D
where she found out where Minnie was.
Denied New Trial.
BoSToN, Sept. 3.-Judge Nelson, of
the United States district court, has
denied the defendants motion for new
trial in the ease of Davis Y IVintar